SearchEnterpriseLinux.com: OpenNMS takes aim at mainstream

Dec 20, 2000, 08:24 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Jan Stafford)

"The 0.4.0 interim release of OpenNMS is a warning shot. The new open source systems management solution puts the commercial systems management software market on the spot. It asks big vendors such Hewlett-Packard and Computer Associates a tough question: Can proprietary software keep pace with advances in technology as well as open source software can? Steve Giles, co-founder of the OpenNMS.org project,said the answer is a resounding 'No!' He believes OpenNMS will show that "market-ruling, monolithic, old" management solutions such as Hewlett-Packard's OpenView, and Computer Associates' Unicenter are as relevant to today?s enterprise Web environment as the manual typewriter."

"Why should the arrival of OpenNMS be an important event for IT professionals?"

"Steve Giles:
There's never been an open source alternative for these network managers. They haven't been able to go to a Web site and pull down a commercial grade network management application that has source code available, is free, and that can be distributed freely...."

"So, do you believe something is wrong with the top commercial network and systems management products?"

"Steve Giles:
The problem with vendor-developed solutions is speed of evolution. It took almost six years for products like OpenView and Tivoli to become distributed, or to run on more than one computer. In comparison, our 1.0 release was designed from scratch starting a year and three-quarters ago. It can be distributed from the ground up immediately. It was built an enterprise application. Other applications have been scaled up from a (single box) solution as systems' scalability increased."

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Related Stories:

• OpenNMS Update v1.39(Dec 20, 2000)
• Enterprise Linux Today: OpenNMS "Test Drive" Release Unveiled to Open Source Community(Dec 07, 2000)
• LinuxPR: Atipa Acquires Company that Leads OpenNMS.org (Sep 29, 2000)